Although the summer is a sleepy time for the art world, London's major galleries and museums have unveiled a range of summer blockbusters. Explore 10 of the best, handpicked by ARTINFO, including new openings, final opportunities, and an overview of the weekend’s essential visiting.Just opened“PUNK” at Michael Hoppen GalleryRuns until: August 26Price: FreeNearest tube station: Sloane SquareWe said: “London’s Michael Hoppen Gallery has put a safety pin through its nose and squeezed into a pair of bondage trousers for “PUNK,” an exhibition of vintage press prints that features images of the movement’s leading lights, including Vivienne Westwood, Siouxsie Sioux, and Johnny Rotten.” (Read more here)“Edmund Clark: War of Terror” at the Imperial War MuseumRuns until: August 28, 2017Price: FreeNearest tube station: Lambeth NorthWe said: “[Visitors] will see multimedia installations. They will see photographs, documents, floor plans, architectural elevations. They will see rooms covered from floor to ceiling with tiny images, and rooms covered from floor to ceiling with giant images. They will see pieces which talk about spectacle and scale; that talk about geopolitical global events, but look at those from the perspective of the personal, ordinary spaces that people live in.”“William Eggleston Portraits” at National Portrait GalleryRuns until: October 23Price: £8Nearest tube station: Charing CrossWe said: “Assembled together, these images make a convincing argument for Eggleston being one of the greatest living American photographers, with even his quickest snapshots imbued with a beauty and perfection of framing that can make the mundane magnificent.” (Read more here)Last chance“Yayoi Kusama” at Victoria MiroRuns until: July 30Price: FreeNearest tube station: Old Street/Piccadilly CircusWe said: “You'll want to see the mirror rooms. The gallery has three of them: one featuring more pumpkins (her first mirrored room featuring pumpkins since the 1990s); one featuring a flashing, rotating chandelier; and the highlight of the exhibition — her first outdoor mirrored room, the reflective black interior of which is perforated with holes. These let in natural sunlight to create a constellation of star-like lights that literally turn day into twinkling night, a transformation that was incredibly effective even on the overcast day of the press view.” (Read more here)Other must-sees“Ragnar Kjartansson” at the BarbicanRuns until: September 4Price: £12Nearest tube station: BarbicanWe said: “When Kjartansson was younger, he probably had that one friend who brought his guitar with him everywhere he went, endlessly strumming through a limited repertoire. There is a large streak of Kjartansson's work that almost punishes musicians, forcing them to play for Abramović-like durations.” (Read more here)“David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still Life” at Royal AcademyRuns until: October 10Price: £11.50Nearest tube station: Piccadilly CircusWe said: “Seeing more than 80 portraits all staged on the same backdrop — which changes from blue to green as Hockney sees fit — and on the same white chair shows his mastery at its best, with Hockney able to define the personality of each sitter in a neutral setting.” (Read more here)“Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick” at Somerset HouseRuns until: August 24Price: £12.50Nearest tube station: TempleWe said: “[The exhibition comprises] a selection of works in a huge variety of mediums, all of which diverge off a central corridor decorated with the hexagonal design familiar from the Overlook Hotel in “The Shining.” The works encompass video, painting, sculpture, installation, as well as sound art, scent art, and even virtual reality — artist Norbert Schoerner recreates the spinning spaceship of “2001: A Space Odyssey” in VR.” (Read more here)“Georgiana Houghton: Spirit Drawings” at Courtauld GalleryRuns until: September 11Price: £9Nearest tube station: TempleWe said: “These swirly, psychedelic, abstract watercolors were created by Houghton as part of her practice as a spirit medium during the spiritualism craze of the mid-19th century. [...] Through this exhibition, the curators hope to bring more attention to these remarkable paintings that seem cast out of time, by an artist cast out of the canon.” (Read more here)“Georgia O’Keeffe” at Tate ModernRuns until: October 30Price: £19Nearest tube station: St. Paul'sWe said: “It is her first exhibition in the UK in a generation, and there are no works by O'Keeffe on public view in the UK, so it really is an exceptional opportunity to see the richness and diversity of her work in one place.” (Take a video tour of the exhibition here)“Painting with Light” at Tate BritainRuns until: September 25Price: £18Nearest tube station: PimlicoWe said: “Spanning a 70-year period, the exhibition 'Painting with Light: Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age' opens with the experimental beginnings of photography, set in a dialogue with works by artists like Dante Gabriel Rossetti and J.M.W. Turner.” (Read more here)
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